One Step Fowards, Three Steps Back
by Allagenda-domsitzers-chan
Summary: Instead of Ed and Al going back in time to see their mother, it's her coming to them. She can't stay there forever, though- her own existence awaits. But what will she really discover while she's far away from her rightful time?
1. Chapter 1

(Name)-

Chapter 1 ********  
A/N: Why hello there, beautiful Fanfictioners! XD For some reason, I'm acting a little bit like Hughes. XP Considering that I only started reading FMA FF on Saturday.  
So, here I am.  
This little plot bunny bit me in the butt and was growling ferociously, wouldn't let go. I ran around the house for an hour, screaming for help, while my dark side was cracking up to the side.  
She's just such a...  
*growling*  
Okay, okay, I'm on it! Geez, this one's a real pain...  
Disclaimer: I own the idea. Nothing more. Hardly the plot, the characters I use always use my summary and bend it as they like. So it's technically their plot...  
All I really own is my name. T-T

***********  
It was quiet in the house, for once.  
Nothing going on, no shouting, no yelling, no overly- obnoxious arguing.  
It seemed that either her sons were finally behaving- or, the most likely option- they were up to something major. Or possibly, they were reading. Behaving.  
Again, unlikely.  
But every now and then, Edward and Alphonse Elric would sit down and stick their noses in a book for a few hours. Both of them would stay that way unless either food or some other book distracted them.  
Trisha Elric, their mother, was sitting outside near the laundry line under one of the trees in their yard. She had her laundry already done, and there was simply nothing else to do yet.  
So she finally found time to relax as a mother and a housekeeper.  
She leaned back further in her chair, relief setting on her face as she was feeling the invograting effect of even the slightest rest. She doubted that it would last long, though, so she simply tried to meld into the chair and get some sort of peace before some other commotion brought her sons running up to her, or else shouting from another room. She smiled lightly, remembering one of the days way back when.

"Hey, Mom!"  
"Mom!"  
Both boys were running up to her as fast as they could, grinning and holding things in their hands.  
Ed was first to reach her, but he was panting so hard he was bent over. Al, though, wasn't breathing that hard, and was able to present his work to his mother.  
"Look! I actually made it right this time!" It was a perfect wreath of flowers, made of a variety of different flowers, but all placed beautifully. They wove gently within each other, almost a pattern she could look at all day and never encrypt.  
"Wow, that's beautiful!"  
"Hey, I did one too!" Ed held up his.  
Made of small, delicate white and lavender colored flowers, his was shaped like a tiara- it even had an arch in the front that looked like a rise and fall in any other metal crown.  
"They're both wonderful- you boys have gotten a lot better."  
Both grinned up at her, relishing in her pride.

She reminded herself that by now, they should be done with their books. It'd been a full two hours if intuition was anything to go by, and by now Ed would be begging for some form of lunch. But neither of her children had appeared, or made any sounds.  
... Maybe they were doing alchemy? It explained the absence, but only for a little while. She should probably go check the study.  
She also remembered the day she'd found them in there, pulling every other book off of the shelves, almost instantly pulling the entire shelf onto themselves.  
She smiled again at that, and began walking towards the house. Her resting period might finally be over, that was always possibly.  
And highly likely.  
Sighing to herself, she walked inside, and quietly shut the front door behind her as she made her way to the study. There was low murmuring, a sign that they weren't reading separately anymore, either sharing a book or trying a new type of alchemy.  
Knowing them, it was likely the latter.  
She stood next to the door for a moment, but being unable to discern anything, she walked in.  
Both of her boys looked up from a transmutation circle they had been drawing. Not one she had seen before.  
And that was another point to intuition, another loss to hope.  
Well, at least it hadn't done anything yet.  
"You boys behaving?"  
"Yep! We're just trying out this array that was in one of Dad's books. It said something about the future."  
"We thought that it'd be a really good idea to see what it did, right?  
"Mmm... just don't destroy anything, please."  
"Okay!"  
Before she shut the door, a bright blue light had already flooded the room. Al had been working when Ed started talking, therefore finishing the circle. Interested to see what it would do, she looked in. Her eyes narrowed due to the blinding light, but she could still see the silouhette of Ed and Al at the edge of the circle.  
She watched as for some reason, the rest of the light around them was turning white. Bright, pure white. The blue began to vanish, and when she looked down, she could see nothing. She tried to speak, but suddenly she found herself unable. She could not move.  
The rest of the world, even the two silouhettes, faded into white.

When she finally began to come around, the first thing that she noticed was a voice.  
Two voices, actually.  
Her head was spinning unpleasantly, and she couldn't see straight. It was then that she realised she'd already opened her eyes.  
She quickly attempted to sit up, but only a few moments later she was already seeing dark spots crossing her vision. So she lay back down, carefully. The voices got a little stronger, and her vision was gradually improving.  
For a moment, she could a bit of gold, red, and tan through the white. Then it faded out again.  
This cycle repeated over an over until she finally receeded back to the non-relenting white.  
**********


	2. Chapter 2

OSF, TSB

*********  
Chapter 2

******  
A/N: :3 Again... trying to do more than one chapter today. Not happening XP (Didn't happen *fail*)  
Disclaimer: I own my name, characters own the plot, and someone else owns them. I forgot who. Might add them as soon as I remember, might not.  
Yep.  
So.  
Umm.  
Well.  
Enjoy.

When she was finally conscious again, Trisha couldn't see. The white was gone. It was dark, sometime in the night. There was little to no noise.  
Something made her realize that it hadn't been a dream. Maybe it was the unfamiliar surface she was on, or the difference in the air- cold, stale, and slightly musty- when she always cleaned.  
-3, Oct. 10-  
The date was in the future. A year or so. And why had she thought of it?...  
Trisha opened her eyes.  
It was indeed night, even if she couldn't see the sky. Looking to the left, out of the window, a half moon stared back at her.  
'A half moon? But it was waning instead of waxing last night... How long was I out?'  
And suddenly, she remembered why she had passed out in the first place.  
Almost instantly she sat up, her breath fast. She was in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar place. She couldn't tell where the door was yet- her eyes hadn't fully adjusted. And it was with high difficulty and pained movements that she was up. She was stiff all over, from laying in one place for too long.  
She shuffled across the room with a worried pace. Her eyes were bright despite the injuries that were spotting her body.  
Suddenly, she stopped. Injuries? Bruises? Cuts?

What had that circle done, really? She was going to find out.  
And it was with that statement that Trisha Elric set her own path- to find out where she was, how long she'd been out- and where her boys were.

Low murmurs, coming from a door that was cracked open. Light flooded out of it, and a slice of the picture of a mound of books and two differently positioned and sized figures sprawled out on the floor.  
One had long, braided golden hair. He was positioned so that Trisha could see his profile. He appeared to have golden eyes, if the light wasn't playing tricks on her.  
The other was in a hulking suit of armor, and looked comortable enough. And for some reason, the date she remembered was nagging her.  
-3, Oct. 10-  
What did it even mean? It was in the future, nothing else.  
Even though she now felt hesitant to open the door, she could also feel a form of fear- yes, fear- forming. Something behind this door wasn't right. Not at all.  
She didn't feel like she should enter... and yet, at the same time, she wanted to know why she was thinking about October third, nineteen-ten.  
So, taking a deep breath, she drew herself up and knocked.  
Both heads looked up as she opened the door.  
And suddenly, she recognized the smaller of the two.  
"Edward..."  
And then, with a sense of satisfaction, the date repeated itself.  
-3, Oct. 10-  
It was years past that date.  
Years.  
The full impact of this hit her, and suddenly she realized-  
This was a different time.  
And when Ed's eyes widened, she realized that he was truly shocked to see her.  
But why would he be?  
And then, that sense of fear re-settled itself in her, and her mind jumped to a conclusion- they hadn't expected her to be awake yet, that was all, it wasn't much, maybe they had just been away and she had just suddenly appeared.  
That wasn't it, though, and she knew it.  
It was worse, much worse. The look on Ed's face was proof of that. For a moment, it looked like he was going to get up and scramble over to her- but instead, he turned away and gripped himself tightly. His long bangs overshadowed his face, concealing his emotion. The other one, in the armor, though, hadn't moved an inch.  
And then her pain caught up with the rest of her.  
She winced, doubled over, and then shut her eyes, grabbing the doorframe with her right hand and her right side with the other. She already felt faint, and the pain was causing her knees to tremble. Nausea also made an appearance, as her throat tightened and her stomach turned. Her hand moved from her side to her mouth, and she fought to not throw up immediantly.  
Her ears started to ring, and Ed's faint- but deeper, she noticed- voice was warped, most likely by her gaining inability to stay awake. Arms began supporting her, pulling her up even though her body wanted to fall down. For a moment, she felt herself become too weak, but then she simply tried to whisper.  
"I can walk for a moment..." And she meant it. In another second, her legs gave way again, and she fell fully unconscious this time.

It was light out when she again recovered from her most recent bout of unconsciousness.  
-3, Oct. 10-  
That was not the date. But it was still there, still something she didn't know about. Something just waiting to be discovered.  
-Don't Forget.-  
She shut her eyes briefly before looking out the window. Bright, unfamiliar, and new. Somewhere she'd never seen and never been. It wasn't the countryside. There was a tree next to the window, and a few houses across from the one she was in.  
Then, she was reminded of the previous night.  
"Mmm..." Her head spun as she carefully sat up, a major difference from last night. She put a hand on her temples as the other one propped her up on the bed. She felt her still smooth hair move uncomfortably, stiff- like her body- from prolonged rest. Then, still half-awake, she looked around a bit more this time. A calendar on the wall to her right stated the date in bold lettering.  
: April 3rd, 1914 :  
1914.  
April.  
-3, Oct. 10-  
-Don't Forget.-  
1914.  
-Don't Forget.-  
It was five years into the future.  
************


End file.
